5 Ways To Finally Get Out Of Bed And Start Working Out​In The Morning

Last Updated May 4, 2018 By Brad Elgan

​With a busy family and work schedule I finally faced the reality that if I don’t get in a workout in the morning, I would never workout. I tried it for about two weeks, failed. Then sporadically would workout one or two mornings a week. Finally, after about two months of this, I finally figured out a formula that works for me and here’s how you can do it too.

Choose A Workout You Love

The first thing I realized is that I needed to do a workout that I LOVE. If it was something I thought I should do, or something that was just popular, that wasn’t good enough. It had to be popular and interesting to me. I had to genuinely love this workout, otherwise I knew I wouldn’t have as much motivation to get out of bed.

​For me, this was a workout that focused on muscle building, toning, and minimal cardio. I chose Beachbody’s Body Beast, an at-home, 90 day, workout program. Coincidentally, my wife recently started working out in the morning too and she chose Orange Theory. The idea of waking up at 4:30 in the morning to drive to a gym and do intense cardio at 5 in the morning sounds like torture to my, but Orange Theory provides her favorite workouts, so that’s what she did.

Discover Some Form Of Accountability

The second thing I realized is that I needed to do a workout program, or like my wife’s Orange Theory workouts, group workouts. A workout program like Body Beast from Beachbody provides accountability. A schedule to stick to every day that eliminates confusion.

I didn’t have to think about exercises to do for my next workout, it was already set up for me thanks to Body Beast. Doing a workout program that has every day, every exercise, and every rep scheduled for you is a huge benefit. It makes it a little easier to wake up every morning knowing I just have to “push play” and start following the workout.

I felt this was some form of accountability because I had to stick to the pre-defined workout schedule and felt seriously guilty if I missed a day.​For my wife, going to group workouts a few times a week was a great form of accountability. At Orange Theory, you tend to see the same people at your sessions, so its easy to form a sense of accountability to one another during group workouts.​

Eliminate As Many Distractions As Possible When You Wake UpA common trick to getting out of bed and working out in the morning is to go to sleep with your workout clothes on. Although it seems a little strange, it’s a small thing that can make a big difference in whether or not you actually workout, or hit the snooze button.

I found that the thing that works best is to eliminate as many distractions as possible in order to start the workout, and even getting dressed is a distraction.

You have to play games with your brain.​Your body must get out of bed, and start a workout before your brain knows whats going on. Once you start thinking about how tired you are, or how much more sleep you could get instead of exercising, its over. Your mind will win, and you’ll go back to sleep.

So, eliminate as many distractions as possible.Minimize your morning, pre-workout routine to as few things as possible, and start the workout as soon as you can. ​

No morning coffee until after the workout

No morning snack

No scrolling through Instagram, Facebook, or whatever

Literally roll out of bed, go to the bathroom, get your shoes on, and workout

I recently read a book called “The 5 Second Rule”, by Mel Robbins. It’s a great book that’s very relevant to us when were trying to workout in the morning. She states in the book that we have five seconds to make a decision before second-guessing and uncertainty clutter our decisions.

Robbins emphasizes that any critical decision we make must be made within five seconds otherwise we probably won’t act on the choice. The book creates a sense assertiveness that powers us to quick decisions and thus more control and happiness in our lives.

She goes on to say that in many cases we will never enjoy certain things in life like getting out of bed to exercise, but making the decision to do so can transform our lives to new and great things.​Check out this eye-opening video, where she talks about her unique perspective on exercise...​

So, the bottom line…​…when you get out of bed in the morning, workout as soon as you can before your mind tells you otherwise.Make It Easy To Workout In The Morning After Reading “Living With A Seal”

I have a full review of this book here, but without a doubt, this is the one thing I did that made it easy to get out of bed and workout in the morning. This is the most motivational book you’ll ever read. And the funny thing is, its not even intended to be a motivational book, its just meant to tell a story.

​The story is how an eccentric entrepreneur hired a former navy seal to both live with him and train him for 30 days. As if that wasn’t enough, this navy seal is easily one of the toughest and most accomplished men on the planet. He completed numerous ultra-marathons and even set a world record for the most pull ups in 24 hours.​

​He puts his new trainee through hell in 30 days. From running several miles in the freezing snow, to sleeping in an uncomfortable chair overnight, to doing push ups and pulls ups till complete exhaustion, their level of physical accomplishments in 30 days is remarkable.​“Living With A Seal” makes you realize that getting up in the morning to exercise is truly just a mental challenge and if you can beat that challenge, your physical capabilities are beyond anything you’ve ever imagined. I highly recommend reading this book, it’s a fun, easy, and motivational read. Click here for more information.

Don't Ruin Your Progress With This Easy Mistake

One last thing that is may surprisingly be the most difficult isn't actually getting up in the morning to do the workout...

...its going to bed the night before.

The easiest way to sabotage your progress with your morning workouts is to go to sleep late, or not get enough sleep. This just makes it that much harder to get up in the morning. In fact, once I was in the habit of getting up and out of bed to workout, I found this to be more difficult. Late night interruptions to sleep like going to bed late, waking up in the middle of the night to let the dog out, staying up to watch your favorite show, playing on your phone for too long, and drinking too much alcohol at night can all affect your sleep to the point where you simply can't physically get up to workout.

Simply put, a good nights sleep is the easiest way to ensure you'll wake up the next morning ready to crush your next workout.